Improvement in water-current motors



jill/622270Z* N. PETERS, PMDTO-LITMDGHAPHER. WASHINGTON. D. C.A

JOHN Q. A. SOHOONOVEB, OF LEBANON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMES S. TOTTEN, OF SAME PLACE.

`IMMPROVEIVIENT IN WATER-CURRENT MOTORS.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN Q. A. SoHooN- OVER, of Lebanon, in the State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Obtaining Water-Power; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this specification.

This invention consists in a platform so arranged in the bed of a river or brook as that the current causes it to vibrate, and thus-supply power that may be turned to account in running machinery.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, Inowl proceed to describe its construction and operation.

Similar letters in the drawings refer to like parts.

A is a frame constructed to sit in the bed of a river orbrook, where the water is shallow, next to either bank. r

B is a platformM set in the frame A, having its sides open to thecurrent, said platform Y being jointed at its front or upstream end to the side of the frame A in many manner that shall prove Water-tight. The rear or down stream side ofthe `platform is loose in the frame and connected by acord, a, passing over a pulley, a', suspended from the cross-piece c, with a weight, b, which overbalances the platform, when empty, sufficiently to keep its end pieces, b, up againstthe stops ofthe framework A.

' A rectangular frame, O, is pivoted centrally of the end pieces of the platform, the sides of the frame forming gates c c', whichalternately openand close, the sides of the platform under the operation of a swinging and weighted lever, b, pivoted at its lower extremity to the outsideof one of the end pieces, b, of the platform, and alternately striking arms c projecting outward from theframe O through recesses in the end pieces, b. The lever b is thrown toward the downstream side, when the loose side of the platformB is elevated by the weight,

by means of a flat curved bar, d, placed in a staple against the outside of the piece b, and

y jointed at its lower end to the extremity of a straight fiat lever, el', whose fulcrum is at A in the corner-post, and which is pivoted to the l end piece, 11', at d. When, therefore, theloose side of the platform rises, the lever d', being fixed at A', must necessarily rise at its other end, pushing the curved bar d before it, and

the latter pushing the swinging leverb .be-4

fore it, and the swinging lever closing the gate c and opening` the gate c.

The apparatus, 'as it sits in the stream, is provided with a head-gate, which shuts the Water off until such time as the machine is required to be set in operation, when, on raising the headgate, the water flows upon the platform and, being shut off from beneath it at all points, causes it to sink. As the platform sinks, a curved bar, e, placed in a staple against the outside of the end piece, b, opposite the bar d, and resting at its lower end upon a seat, e', of the main frame, meet-s the swinging lever and throws it toward the upstream side, thus causing it to close the gatec and open the gate c. This clears the platform of water, and it once more rises, automatically opening the gate c and closing the gate c, as before, and thus the operation goes on, resulting in a continuous vibration of the platform, which vibration may be taken advantage of to work a pump for the elevation of a column of water sufficient, when the platform is twelve feet square and submerged one foot, to give forty-horse power or run three pairs of burrs. Or the pump may be dispensed with and the motion of the platform communicated to wheels through connecting-rods, or the power be utilized in other ways, without the expense of a dam or race or the existence of a head,

'and in times of drought as long as there rcmains sufficient water in the stream to work the platform. The latter is pierced with sundry orifices, which 'are closed by a perforated plate, by raising which the water is allowed to flow through the platform without causing M JOHN Q. A. SCHOONOVER.

Vitnesses:

WM. B. Rollen, T. R. THATCHER. 

